Still, it sometimes seems Luis Gonzalez’s career is powered by Miracle-Gro. The Arizona left fielder has set career highs in home runs the past three seasons. As ridiculous as this sounds, his personal record of 31 homers could fall by the All-Star break.

“It’s past the point of, ‘When is it going to stop?'” teammate Curt Schilling, who pitched seven strong innings yesterday in 8-2 win over Mets, said. “Now it’s, ‘What’s he going to do next?'”

The 33-year-old Gonzalez belted a three-run homer off Steve Trachsel in the third inning yesterday, upping his major-league lead to 15. Barry Bonds, with 14, was the only other National Leaguer with more than 11 as of yesterday. Nobody in the American League had more than 12.

While Gonzalez’s home-run hitting career sprouted a bit late, his current pace resembles a fairy-tale like beanstalk, with no telling where he ends up. He set the NL record with 13 homers in April and was named Player of the Month. No pun intended, Gonzalez said after the game that, “The last couple of years I’ve been able to elevate my game to the next level.”

In his first full season with Houston in 1991, Gonzalez hit .254 with 13 homers and 69 RBIs. He never hit more than 15 homers in his first seven seasons. Playing in Detroit in 1998, he mashed 23 homers, but hit only .267 and drove in 71 runs. The Tigers thought so much of him, they dealt him to the Diamondbacks for Karim Garcia. Still, he brought changes in his batting stance with him to Arizona.

“It’s just a classic case of a late bloomer, a guy that took a few years to learn his own strengths and weaknesses,” Brenly said. “I’m sure he would give a lot of credit to his mechanical changes. He opened up his stance so he could see the ball a little better, moved closer to the plate so he had better plate coverage.”

Whereas most people retire to Arizona, Gonzalez’s career has thrived. He batted .336 with 26 homers and 111 RBIs in ’99. He hit .311 with 31 homers and 114 RBIs last year. After going 3-for-5 yesterday, he was hitting .322 with an NL-best 34 RBIs. It’s scary to think he may not have peaked yet.

“People say, ‘Can you do it again? Can you do this?'” Gonzalez said. “My family is from Cuba, so I’ve been brought up to appreciate everything you have and to work hard.

“I want to get better every year. You don’t want to be one of those guys who as you get older you’re kind of washed up.”

While skeptics may believe Gonzalez is juiced up on steroids, the truth is he is one of the hardest-working – and most respected – players in baseball. Take one look at him and you know it’s not a matter of any artificially-produced muscles.

He played 162 games last year, and is as proud of that number as he is his current dinger total. Ironically, Brenly wanted to rest him Sunday but thought better of it. Afterwards, the easy-going Gonzalez was happy to discuss questions about everything from his triplets to Mark McGwire, whose single-season home-run record he is on pace to break.

“I think I have to work a lot harder to hit mine,” Gonzalez said. “It would be nice if it happened.

“If I could do something like that, I’d probably ask myself questions like you guys are doing . . . If you told me I’d have 15 home runs . . . right now, I’d have told you you were nuts.”